Sports Massage
The sports massage is a special type of massage is usually given before, during, and after a sporting event (a competition, for example), to assist the athlete to achieve the feat he has set, to relax and to reduce the risk hurting themselves. Only a professional knowledgeable about the human body, especially the muscles and skeleton, is able to provide this type of massage.
The sports massage works deep in eliminating toxins in the muscles, separating the membranes that sometimes set them (adhesions), and minimizing the accumulation of dirt around the scar. The fact that the sports massage stretches the muscles allows the athlete to fully recover all its capabilities. Moreover, this practice through a blood made more fluid, helps cells grow, relaxes the muscles, and reduces recovery time after exertion.
The sports massage, Swedish massage and mixing Shiatsu is particularly suited to the needs of athletes. According to these needs, using various techniques, such as the Swedish strokes, friction, pressure on specific points, and the mobilization of the tendons.
The different types of sports massage
The sports massage is performed before and after exercise, and allows, in addition to maintaining the athlete in shape, reducing the chances that he injures himself and increase his recovery speed.
Before effort
A massage before playing sports is a good way to warm up and stretch your muscles for optimal performance, but also stimulate blood circulation: the muscles are better fed, relax, and the athlete sees his mentally strengthened. Most effective is to provide this massage two days before the competition.
After effort
After intense effort, our tired and tense body needs a massage. This helps prevent swelling, reduce the risk of cramps and aches, and melt down the lactic acid out of muscles. In addition, the body will take less time to recover thanks to massage.
Prevention
The sports massage can be considered as part of the training, if used regularly and as a precaution. Indeed, massage regularly promote blood circulation and help heal any tears or stretching due to heavy exertion. They also serve to keep the muscles relaxed, allowing different muscle layers of nested harmoniously into each other more.
Recovery
The sports massage is sometimes used as a last resort in case of injury: it facilitates the recovery of the athlete in minimizing the adverse effects that may have adhesions or scar tissue, and also helps to quickly regain strength and flexibility.
Techniques
The stroking, kneading, and friction are the names of the three main techniques used for a sports massage. Most of these techniques generally involve exercise pressure towards the heart, to ensure that the blood circulates properly. To ensure that the blood vessels are not damaged, caresses help "alleviate" a massage may be too intense. These are part of the petting stroking, which is a preparatory phase of the massage. Then comes the turn of the kneading and friction, which still allow them to work specifically on areas that are too tight.
The benefits of sports massage
The sports massage acts at different levels: physical, physiological and psychological. Only in harmonizing and balancing these three aspects that we can feel a sense of well-being. Here is a list of the main benefits of sports massage:
From a physical point of view:
• A deep tissue massage helps open pores of the tissue thus facilitating both the flow of fluids and nutrients, and removal of undesirable substances such as lactic acid.
• It also helps the muscles to supply oxygen and nutrients for a faster recovery.
• Sports massage stretches and relaxes the muscles, often made after a grueling physical activity.
• It helps to get rid of scar tissue affecting muscles, tendons and ligaments, which may therefore hinder athletic performance
• It makes the tissues more flexible (skin, muscles).
At physiological
• It reduces the sensation of pain
• After the massage, the muscles are relaxed
At the psychological level:
• By relaxing the muscles, it significantly lowers the stress and anxiety.
• It helps you feel good and in good health.
Sports physiotherapist
A sport physiotherapist needs to be specialized in this field. Eventually, a physiotherapist can also have undergone a program of additional training. The sports massage is now becoming more numerous.
